Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Tuesday 28 September 1999

Scottish Executive

Arts

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what has been the total government funding for the Scottish Arts Council in each year from 1990 to 1999.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Prior to 1 April 1994, the Scottish Arts Council formed part of the Arts Council of Great Britain. Government funding from 1994-95 to 1998-99 is detailed in the table:

  


Year  


1994-95 

  


1995-96 

  


1996-97 

  


1997-98 

  


1998-99 

  




Scottish Arts Council Funding 

  

23,777,000 

  

24,477,000 

  

25,811,000 

  

27,097,000 

  

27,186,108

Community Care

Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of funding made available to local authorities for carers in the financial year 1999-2000.

Iain Gray: Of the £1,101 million allocated to Social Work £5.1 million is intended to assist carers and provide respite care. In addition £5 million is being made available to authorities conditional on each undertaking to implement the recommendations of Modernising Community Care: An Action Plan , including the development of respite services. The bulk of the Social Work allocation is for services for specific client groups: carers of individuals in these client groups will benefit directly or indirectly from the services provided.

  We are aware of the concerns that carers and carers’ organisations have over funding of carers services by local authorities. We have been considering this in the context of the National Carers Strategy and will be announcing shortly details of how the Carers’ Strategy will be taken forward in Scotland.

Concordats

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can decide to publish the draft concordats regardless of whether their non-disclosure could be justified under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and whether it will publish any legal or other opinion or advice it has received relevant to this decision.

Mr Jim Wallace: No. The drafts were received in confidence from the UK Government and are to be agreed between the UK Government and the devolved administrations. All of the concordats will be published when they are agreed.

Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans for greater involvement of local police forces in the new community schools.

Mr Sam Galbraith: New Community Schools bring together in a single team professionals from a range of services. Most of the 37 pilot New Community Schools projects currently operating actively involve the police and recognise the police service as an important partner in taking the initiative forward. However, diversity and local ownership are key to the New Community Schools initiative. The nature and extent of police involvement is therefore primarily for local management to determine, in response to local needs.

Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many placing requests have there been for primary and secondary schools since May 1997 and what proportion of the total number of places this represents.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive annually collects the total number of placing requests that have been received by education authorities between 1 August and 31 July of the following year. Figures for 1 August 1998 to 31 July 1999 are currently being collected and will not be available for several months. As information on the date of receipt is not collected, the number of placing requests received between May and July 1997 is not centrally available.

  For the period 1 August 1997 to 31 July 1998 the number of placing requests received in Scotland is as follows:

  


Primary 


Secondary 




Under Statutory Entry Age 

  

Other Primary 

  
 



415 

  

19,846 

  

11,248 

  



  Provisional.

  Data on the number of places are not collected centrally. The following table shows the number of placing requests received by education authorities between 1 August 1997 and 31 July 1998 as a percentage of the relevant stage roll in September 1998 (i.e. the academic session to which the majority of these placing requests will relate).

  


Primary 


Secondary 

  




Total requests as a % of the total 

  primary school roll 

  

P1 requests 

  as a % of 

  P1 roll 

  

P2-P7 requests as a % of 

  P2-P7 roll 

  

Total requests as a % of the total 

  secondary school roll 

  

S1 requests 

  as a % of 

  S1 roll 

  

S2-S6 requests as a % of 

  S2-S6 roll 

  



4.6


20.7


2.0


3.6


12.6


1.4




  Provisional.

  Percentages are based on the September 1998 stage rolls.

  A News Release (dated 8 June 1999) and a Statistical bulletin (Edn/B6/1999/1, dated June 1999) with further results of the placing requests survey 1997-98 can be found on the Scottish Executive website.

Environment

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what specific proposals it has to implement the initiative to introduce strategic environmental assessment for government programmes, as outlined in the Partnership for Scotland document.

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it proposes to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce strategic environmental assessment for government programmes, as outlined in the Partnership for Scotland document, and if so, whether these proposals will include measures to ensure that the Parliament will be able to monitor the outcomes.

Sarah Boyack: We will announce our plans for implementing strategic environmental assessment in government programmes in due course. We expect that they will be linked to our commitment to the integration of sustainable development into all policies and have regard to the draft Directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment in preparation by the European Union.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive over what time period the £10.8 million underpayment in rate support grant to Fife Council in financial year 1997-98 resulting from the overstatement of rateable valuations of non-domestic properties will be recovered by Fife Council.

Mr Jack McConnell: The adjustment in respect of Fife Council’s original overstatement of its estimated non-domestic rate income for 1997-98 was made in a single payment to the Council on 3 February 1999.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the 1997-98 audits in respect of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Dunbartonshire, Edinburgh, Highland, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian councils remain outstanding beyond their due submission date of 30 June 1999 and when these audits are expected to be submitted to the Controller of Audit.

Mr Jack McConnell: The completion of these outstanding audits is a matter for the Accounts Commission for Scotland. I have referred your question to the Controller of Audit who will write to you giving the reasons for the delays and the dates for likely completion.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action will be taken to ensure that all Scottish local authorities implement best practice to address basic accounting and control weaknesses, including the absence of bank and other reconciliations, internal control deficiencies, weaknesses in the compilation and maintenance of asset registers and the lack of reconciliation between the assessment roll and valuation roll.

Mr Jack McConnell: These matters are dealt with through the audit process. The audit process exists to identify weaknesses in local authorities’ systems, highlight these weaknesses to local authorities and make recommendations as appropriate. The Accounts Commission for Scotland is responsible for securing the audit of local authorities in Scotland. Auditors appointed by the Commission make recommendations and ensure that these are implemented.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the "Three tiers" report referred to in the Controller of Audit’s Overview Report on the 1997-98 Audits of Local Authorities is to be published.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Accounts Commission report Three Tiers? Comparing the Cost of Managers in Councils was published on Thursday 16 September 1999.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty’s Government to ensure that claimants in Scotland who are eligible for council tax benefit and housing benefit do not lose their benefit entitlement due to technical breaches by local authorities of the claiming and awarding procedures used.

Mr Jack McConnell: Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit are reserved matters administered by local authorities on behalf of the Department of Social Security (DSS). Benefit claimants should not lose their entitlement due to technical breaches by local authorities.

Health

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the estimated cost of establishing a fluoridation system in Scotland and the estimated annual cost of operating such a system.

Susan Deacon: Initial estimates by the Scottish water authorities suggest that fluoridating the water supplies where it is possible to do so, serving the majority of the population, would imply capital expenditure in the order of £29 million and annual running costs of £4 million. It is not practical technically to fluoridate some 15 per cent of public water supplies in Scotland. Some 2-3 per cent of the population are served by private water supplies. These costs might vary considerably if fluoridation schemes were introduced at local level at different times. The costs of consulting the public, for example, by local opinion polls, prior to the introduction of any fluoridation scheme will be determined once the arrangements for public consultation have been agreed.

Health

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of lone parents in Scotland are in "less than good health", as defined in The Health and Socio-economic Circumstances of British Lone Mothers over the last Two Decades, Shouls et al (1999).

Susan Deacon: This information is not currently available. The Scottish Executive Central Research Unit are reviewing the potential for the extension of existing studies of the circumstances of lone parents to accommodate the collection of more detailed health data for this group. However, Health Boards, when preparing their Health Improvement Plans are required to address such health inequalities as may exist within their respective areas, and to take account of the needs of specific population groups, including lone parents, along with other priority topics.

Homelessness

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current official figures are for levels of homelessness in North Lanarkshire, and what plans it has to tackle homelessness in this area.

Jackie Baillie: Between April 1998 and March 1999 North Lanarkshire Council received 2118 applications under the homeless persons legislation – an 11.3% increase on the previous year. The discharge of its homelessness responsibilities is an operational decision for the local council. Homelessness is one of four national priorities which local authorities are expected to take into account in using their Housing Revenue Account allocations from central government. In 1998-99 North Lanarkshire Council received an HRA allocation of £12.3m. The council has also been allocated £810,000 under the Rough Sleepers Initiative for outreach workers and direct access accommodation in Airdrie and Motherwell; and approximately £14m under the Empty Homes Initiative which should lead to more than 100 empty homes being brought back into use.

Housing

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive , further to the answer to question S1W-189 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 6 July, how many grants of £500 have been granted under the new Warm Deal in each constituency in Scotland in financial year 1999-2000.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Between 1 July and 31 August, 1,329 Warm Deal grants were made across Scotland. Of these grants, 106 were for the maximum £500. A constituency breakdown is not available.

Housing

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will explain the variation in the percentage of rent arrears across Scottish local authorities and which authorities have (a) no formal rent recovery policies (b) no rent arrears recovery timetable (c) delays in pursuing arrears and (d) take no action in respect of former tenants arrears.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Rent arrears management is the responsibility of individual local authorities and the detailed information requested is not held centrally. The Accounts Commission and Scottish Homes are jointly carrying out a study into rent arrears management in local authorities and housing associations. The study is due to be completed next summer.

Immigration

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to change the current accommodation arrangements for immigration and asylum detainees within the Scottish prison service, and what representations it has made, or intends to make, to Her Majesty’s Government regarding the detention of such detainees.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Prison Service holds those persons detained in Scotland under Immigration Legislation as a service on behalf of the Home Office. At any one time only a very small number are detained in Scotland. The majority are held at HM Remand Institution Longriggend in a dedicated unit although there are a small number held in other Scottish Prisons on occasion, notably Edinburgh and Aberdeen. There are no plans to change these arrangements beyond the fact that the future of HM Remand Institutions Longriggend is currently under review.

Information

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will define in detail the terms "harm and prejudice" as used in the first and second paragraphs of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and whether it will confirm that the definitions exclude possible harm and possible prejudice.

Mr Jim Wallace: For reasons of practicality and continuity and to ensure that openness arrangements were in place from 1 July 1999, the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information is based closely on the UK Government's Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Consideration of applications for information takes into account guidance on interpretation of the UK Code issued by the Cabinet Office. A copy of this guidance will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

  Work is in hand to review and amend this guidance to ensure that appropriate references to the Scottish Executive Code are included. Amended guidance will in due course be provided to all public authorities which operate the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information.

Information

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list who it regards as members of the Royal Household for the purposes of the section headed "Communications with the Royal Household" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and, if not, why not.

Mr Jim Wallace: No. The purpose of this exemption is to ensure that confidential communications between Her Majesty and the Scottish Ministers are given adequate protection. It would not be appropriate to list members of the Royal Household.

Information

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information allows the Scottish public sufficient access to information about its actions and decisions and, if not, what further proposals it intends to make in this regard.

Mr Jim Wallace: For reasons of practicality and continuity and to ensure that openness arrangements were in place from 1 July, the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information is based closely on the UK Government's Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The Code is underpinned by a strong and explicit presumption of openness. As an interim measure pending the introduction of a statutory regime, the Code is considered to provide a satisfactory openness regime.

Information

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information applies to public authorities which deal with devolved and other matters, as listed in Annex E of "The Scotland Act: A Guide".

Mr Jim Wallace: The Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information applies to those Scottish public bodies within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Commissioner as listed in Schedule 1 to the Code. Cross Border Public Authorities, as listed in Annex E of "The Scotland Act: A Guide" are not subject to the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information. This arrangement reflects the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament with regard to freedom of information.

Information

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information has any application to any draft concordats and, if so, whether it will state, for each draft concordat, its justification, including the relevant provision in Part II of the Code, for the draft concordats being kept secret.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Code of Practice applies to all documents held or received by the Scottish Executive. All concordats will be published. However the provisions in the Code dealing with ‘Internal discussion and advice’ and ‘Information received in confidence’ cover the present drafts.

Internet Services

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review recent data indicating that internet websites encouraging suicide are contributing to the high level of suicides among young people in Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: I am not aware of the data referred to. There is a range of factors that contribute to suicide rates and these include the accessibility of means of suicide. The regulation of Internet services are a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998.

Justice

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to clarify the law relating to suicide in Scotland by introducing legislation similar to the Suicide Act 1961 or in any other way.

Mr Jim Wallace: Neither suicide nor attempted suicide is a criminal offence in Scotland. In the case of attempted suicide, depending on the circumstances, it may be that other separate charges arise such as breach of the peace or possession of an offensive weapon. Where a person assists in the suicide of another, such conduct could, in some circumstances, give rise to charge for a range of offences from assault, through culpable homicide to murder.

  There are no plans to change the law in Scotland.

Justice

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive on what grounds a charge of murder may be dropped to assault when a victim died as a consequence of that assault.

Lord Hardie: In any case in which proceedings on indictment are instructed, either in the High Court or in the Sheriff Court, the final decision regarding the charge or charges to be libelled in the indictment is taken by Crown Counsel after careful consideration of all available evidence and the law applicable to the case.

  Crown Counsel consider each case on its own merits.

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a definition of those communications referred to as "confidential" in the section headed "Internal discussion and advice" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and, in particular, whether this definition includes only those communications which are stamped, marked or otherwise explicitly said to be "confidential"; and, if so, whether it will confirm that it will not seek to keep secret information which is not so marked or otherwise further restrict the information which may be disclosed according to the Code by reference to this provision.

Mr Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1533.

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the (a) enactments (b) regulations (c) European Community laws and (d) international agreements referred to in the section headed "Statutory and other restrictions" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information which allow information to be kept secret.

Mr Jim Wallace: No comprehensive list of statutory bars exists. The White Paper on Open Government (Cm 2290) published in July 1993 identified some 200 Acts which prohibited disclosure of information. If information requested under the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information fell under a statutory bar the public authority would be expected to detail which Act or regulation prevented its disclosure.

Local Government

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reviewed the 1999-2000 Business Plan of the DLO Building and Works Unit of East Ayrshire Council and, if so, what the outcome of this review was and in particular whether it accepts the income, expenditure and surplus forecast contained in the Business Plan.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Council has sent us a copy of their Business Plan and are awaiting endorsement of the plan from their external consultants. Once we have the consultant’s view we will provide any comments on the plan to the Council.

Local Government

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish local authorities have yet to issue a statement on their strategic objectives in service delivery recognising the clear separation of client and contractor and demonstrating how they will ensure value for money.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish local authorities have yet to produce business plans for their DLOs/DSOs explaining how their activities can be run profitably given the income generated from work undertaken for council departments.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish local authorities do not yet account for DLO/DSO income expenditure on a full accruals basis.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish local authorities have yet to put in place arrangements to ensure that corrective action is taken when poor financial performance is indicated from monitoring reports.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish local authorities have still to review bonus schemes to ensure that the DLO/DSO bonus earning capacity of each scheme is consistent with contract prices and achievement of statutory financial objectives.

Mr Frank McAveety: This issue was raised by the Controller of Audit in his report 1998-99 Overview of DLOs and DSOs in Scotland . I have referred your questions to the Controller of Audit who will write to you to provide further explanation and information.

Local Government

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for ensuring that each Scottish local authority has adequate internal audit resources available to scrutinise the authority as a whole and whether it will encourage the establishment, where one does not currently exist, of an audit committee or similar structure to allow council members to discharge this responsibility.

Mr Jack McConnell: The allocation of resources and committee structures are matters for local authorities themselves. We encourage all authorities to ensure that they have robust internal audit systems in place.

Local Government

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to ensure that there is an improvement in Inverclyde Council’s DLO/DSO accounting arrangements and no repeat of the failure by a number of trading activities to achieve their financial objectives.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Accounts Commission has made a number of recommendations for all DLO/DSOs across Scotland and I expect all councils to act upon them. The unaudited DLO/DSO results for 1998-99 show that Inverclyde Council has acted to reduce the number of DLO/DSOs that failed to achieve their statutory objectives from 5 in 1997-98 to 1 in 1998-99. I expect the council to make every effort to ensure no DLO/DSO fails to achieve the statutory objective in subsequent years.

Ministers

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the total anticipated annual salary cost (excluding the standard MSP salary) of; and, the total anticipated annual cost of providing office facilities, support staff, cars and drivers for, the Scottish Ministers (including the First Minister and the Scottish Law Officers) and junior Scottish Ministers.

Mr Jack McConnell: The basis of the costs requested are explained below. The total anticipated annual salaries costs for Scottish Ministers (based on the actual salaries paid to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Law Officers) is £697,539. Office facilities costs are £312,913 which includes accommodation costs. The cost of cars and drivers are a little more difficult to calculate. Based on the usage of the service since the establishment of the Parliament it is anticipated that the cost will be around £300,000. Support staff costs are around £994,000. These costs are met from within the overall provision made for administration.

Music

Ian Welsh (Ayr) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the proposal for a Scottish School of Music and Recording Technology in Ayr.

Rhona Brankin: In principle we believe that there could be valid grounds for establishing such a facility in Scotland. However, we would expect a range of organisations to collaborate in the detailed planning of such a venture.

Poverty

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of lone parents in Scotland have a disposable income of under £140 per week.

Ms Wendy Alexander: According to combined data from the Family Resources Survey for 1996-97 and 1997-98, approximately one third of lone parents in Scotland had a total income after tax and National Insurance contributions of less than £140 per week. Income is from all sources including employment, Social Security Benefits and investments.

Prison Service

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what community service provision there currently is for female offenders, and whether it has any specific plans to reduce the female prison population.

Mr Jim Wallace: All local authority criminal justice social work departments in Scotland provide Community Service Schemes. Authorities are required to ensure that schemes for unpaid work in the community offer a sufficient range of placements to be able to accommodate offenders with differing employment, personal or domestic circumstances.

  Following the publication of a major review of the use of custody for women, Women Offenders – A Safer Way, undertaken by the Chief Inspector of Prisons and Chief Inspector of Social Work, an inter-agency forum, chaired by Professor Sheila McLean, was set up last year to consider the issues raised by the review.

Rural Affairs

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive to provide detailed figures of agricultural accidents in Scotland over the last 10 years.

Ross Finnie: Health and safety at work is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and remains the responsibility of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Rural Affairs

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish scientific, environmental and consumer health groups, were involved in the consultation period prior to the announcement of the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crop trials.

Ross Finnie: Scottish Natural Heritage were the Scottish organisation consulted in addition to a wide range of UK environmental and other organisations.

Rural Affairs

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures have been undertaken to ensure that the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant crop trials in Scotland does not contravene EU Directive 96/220/EEC.

Ross Finnie: The consent to proceed with the trials in the UK was issued under the stringent procedures required by European law (including Directive 90/220).

Rural Affairs

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can withdraw from or implement a moratorium on Scottish participation in the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crop trials and, if so, whether it will do so.

Ross Finnie: The consent to proceed with the trials in the UK has already been issued under the stringent procedures required by European law. Hence the consent holders can proceed to plant, having first given warning of and publicised the locations of the sites. None have so far been notified in Scotland.

  The Scottish Executive could withdraw funding from the programme but this would breach the agreement of the other funding partners. Even then, this would not necessarily result in the consent holders deciding not to proceed in Scotland.

Rural Affairs

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to guarantee the independence of the appeals mechanism for farmers suffering penalties in relation to their EU subsidy claims.

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the independent appeals mechanism for farmers suffering penalties in relation to their European Union subsidy claims will accept retrospective appeals from farmers who have already been penalised as a result of genuine errors made in their subsidy applications.

Ross Finnie: I refer to my answer to S1W–1186, given on 10 September.

  The ECHR confers no rights to retrospection but any implications of decisions by the appeal body on previous decisions taken by SERAD will be looked at.

Rural Affairs

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to introduce an effective labelling scheme for the pig industry that provides accurate information on country of origin.

Ross Finnie: My Department has been working closely with Scottish pig industry representatives in developing the Scottish Pork Quality Mark. This provides consumers with assurance as to the origin and quality of home produced product given the EU Labelling Directive does not generally require a "country of origin" declaration.

Social Inclusion

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considered, while developing proposals on citizens’ juries, any potential impact which payments to participants in citizens’ juries will have on the full range of social security benefits and, if so, whether it will provide details of any potential impact.

Ms Wendy Alexander: We are currently working with representatives and experts from Social Inclusion Partnerships and other organisations to develop detailed guidelines for People’s Juries, and this includes details of the conditions under which jurors will take part.

Social Work

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the coming year to deliver support to Family Mediation Scotland, and in particular how much money will be allocated to it, and from which budget.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive plans to support Family Mediation Scotland in the coming year through the provision of grants under the Social Work (Scotland) 1968. As part of a 3 year funding package, Family Mediation Scotland are due to receive a total of £88,580 under sections 9 and 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 in the financial year 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001. Final allocations for all grant recipients under the 1968 Act in that year have, however, yet to be determined.

  Future arrangements for funding family mediation in Scotland are currently being examined as part of the review of family law in Scotland.

Transport

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers to be the impact on confidence in public transport in Glasgow as a result of the closing down of the Underground system for five hours on 31 July.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agrees with the view of Strathclyde Passenger Transport that football fans in Glasgow should not travel to matches by Underground.

Sarah Boyack: The operation of the Glasgow Underground is a matter for the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive.

Transport

Allan Wilson (Cunninghame North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a route by route breakdown of revenue and expenditure for Caledonian Macbrayne’s upper Clyde ferry services, including the Largs to Cumbrae slip.

Sarah Boyack: I refer the Member to the answer I gave Duncan Hamilton on 11 August (S1W-563).